Once in a while you watch a movie in fascination just to see how bad it can get. This movie won't disappoint you. Protagonist: Jacques, a sixtyish uncouth, unwashed racist. Misogynist and homophobe whose only contact with other human beings is through nonstop insult and abuse (Brian Cox plays Jacques so well that we cringe every time he is on screen, which is almost all the time). Jacques runs a seedy bar under the rules: (a) No walk-ins. (b) No women. (c) No gays. (d) Abuse the regular customers. Of course we wonder: why a never cleaned (or even swept) local is not overrun with cockroaches/rats? The bar doesn't even have a functioning ladies' room. Where are the health inspectors? How can Jacques pay his rent from a handful of (obviously unwealthy) customers?
Jacques just had his fifth heart attack but seems to be none the worse for wear. He apparently uses a local hospital as a hotel. Who pays his medical bills? Medicare? Medicaid? Hidden fortune? He is a candidate for a heart transplant in spite of being a poster boy for unhealthy living; he chainsmokes and drinks heavily. The second half of the film attempts unsuccessfully to give him some vaguely human traits.
The story: Jacques adopts Lucas, a homeless young man and plans to teach him the ropes to leave the bar to him. "Teach the ropes" means turning Lucas into a heartless automaton by means of constant abuse and painful put-downs. One day beautiful April walks in. She is a flight attendant from France, who can't go home because she is afraid to fly (!!!) (April is played by Isild Le Besco who seems to have wandered in from another set and bravely does what she can with her absurd lines). Conclusion: Lucas marries April, she gets residence papers and disappears; Lucas has a (painfully predictable) fatal accident and his heart is transplanted to Jacques. Last scene: a spry Jacques in a tropical beachfront property being served by a mysterious friend's beautiful wife without a care in the world.
If this film has anything positive is the dialogue, which (at times) is witty. Not always, though; we get plenty of commonplaces like "life is too short for lousy cars" and a dissertation on flatulence. What I found particularly repulsive is the underlying idea that Lucas has been put into this world solely to give Jacques a second chance at his hate-filled life.
Jacques just had his fifth heart attack but seems to be none the worse for wear. He apparently uses a local hospital as a hotel. Who pays his medical bills? Medicare? Medicaid? Hidden fortune? He is a candidate for a heart transplant in spite of being a poster boy for unhealthy living; he chainsmokes and drinks heavily. The second half of the film attempts unsuccessfully to give him some vaguely human traits.
The story: Jacques adopts Lucas, a homeless young man and plans to teach him the ropes to leave the bar to him. "Teach the ropes" means turning Lucas into a heartless automaton by means of constant abuse and painful put-downs. One day beautiful April walks in. She is a flight attendant from France, who can't go home because she is afraid to fly (!!!) (April is played by Isild Le Besco who seems to have wandered in from another set and bravely does what she can with her absurd lines). Conclusion: Lucas marries April, she gets residence papers and disappears; Lucas has a (painfully predictable) fatal accident and his heart is transplanted to Jacques. Last scene: a spry Jacques in a tropical beachfront property being served by a mysterious friend's beautiful wife without a care in the world.
If this film has anything positive is the dialogue, which (at times) is witty. Not always, though; we get plenty of commonplaces like "life is too short for lousy cars" and a dissertation on flatulence. What I found particularly repulsive is the underlying idea that Lucas has been put into this world solely to give Jacques a second chance at his hate-filled life.